Rebecca was born with two serious
heart defects, tetrology of Fallot (TOF) and pulmonary atresia. TOF consists
of four separate abnormalities: a ventricular septal defect (hole in the
middle of the heart), pulmonary stenosis (a narrowing of the blood vessel
going to the lungs from the heart), hypertrophy of the right ventricle
(a thickening of the walls of the right side of the heart) and an overriding
aorta (the big blood vessel that's supposed to bring blood filled with
oxygen to the rest of the body is bringing blood from both sides of the
heart, some with oxygen and some without). Pulmonary atresia is the failure
of development of the pulmonary artery and valve (that is the same blood
vessel already mentioned that's supposed to bring blood from the heart
to the lungs where it picks up oxygen).

When Becca was one month old,
after she had already had one operation, she was placed in our family for
adoption. At that time the doctors gave her only a thirteen percent chance
of living to the age of five. They told us there was a possibility
of her having an operation when she was three years old that might save
her life. So with hope, this special child became part of our family,
and part of our heart and soul.

When she was three months old,
her condition deteriorated dramatically almost over night. After a diagnostic
procedure called a heart cath, the doctors told us that things had changed
in her heart. There was nothing they could do except to make her
comfortable; Becca only had a few months to live. Devastated, we
took Becca home, determined to surround her with joy, even though our hearts
were breaking.

When she was a year old, they
performed another heart cath. I'll never forget the huge smile on
the doctor's face when she walked into the waiting room and told us,
there was no way they could explain how or why, but things had changed
in her heart again. Because of the changes, there was something they could
do. Becca was going to live! She was going to grow up!

A fairly simple heart surgery
was done when Becca was thirteen months old. Everything went well
until they tried to take her off the heart/lung machine. She would
not come off.

There was one slim possibility,
a "heroic measure," the doctors called it that might save her life.
They put her on ECMO, (a portable heart/lung machine) and took her into
Intensive Care. Becca needed 97 units of blood and blood products in 6
days. We waited, watched, prayed and told her of our Love. Our miracle
Rebecca surprised everyone again. She was off ECMO in four days and
out of the hospital in a month.

We learned to live on love
and hope...

Unfortunately the operation
had not accomplished all of what they had wanted, so she was back in the
hospital a month later to stretch/balloon, her pulmonary arteries.

Another heart cath was done
four months later.

The operation to “fully repair”
her heart was scheduled for September at UCLA with a surgeon who is known
world wide for accepting and successfully operating on difficult cases.
We flew to California, but the surgery was canceled the night before when
she caught a cold.

Surgery was canceled again
a month later because of a cough. A week before the third time we
scheduled surgery the doctor called to tell us he felt Rebecca was "too
high risk". He would not operate on her. Tears flowed and our hearts
ached. This was the beginning of November and we had been told that
Becca would need the full repair by the end of January, or the only thing
that could be done to save her life would be a heart/lung transplant.

Another heart cath and ballooning
procedure was done to stretch her pulmonary arteries. Critical numbers
that looked better were taken and all the information was sent again to
UCLA, hoping the surgeon would change his mind. A week before Christmas
he called. He said she would be a high risk, and they would expect
a rocky recovery period, but they would operate! Surgery was
performed January 12. After seven long hours, Rebecca easily came
off the heart/lung machine. She had no major complications and was
out of the hospital in a week.

We were home in ten days.

For 2 ½ years after
UCLA, Becca did not spend one day in the hospital. Together we celebrated
life!

When Becca had her 7th heart
cath, the results were not good. The pressures in her pulmonary arteries
were too high (secondary pulmonary hypertension) and slowly getting
higher. They ballooned several areas and expressed great concern.
The pressures in her lungs needed to come down or someday she would need
a heart/lung transplant. Stenting and more ballooning were recommended.
Last October after Becca turned 5 she had another catherization.
This one lasted 8 long hours. We were updated often. Becca
was doing very well. The doctor ballooned everything he could find
to balloon and placed two stents in her pulmonary arteries. At 6:30
we were told they were just about done and Becca continued to do well.
At 6:40 the doctors returned to tell us there was bleeding in her lungs.
They believed one of the stents had punctured a pulmonary artery.
If this had indeed happened they would try to stop the bleeding but that
had never been done successfully before. If the bleeding could not
be stopped Becca would die.

We were overwhelmed with love,
fear, prayers, and tears for our Becca. An hour went by and the bleeding
was slowing down. Good news!! The pulmonary artery was not
torn. Probably some bronchial collateral’s had ruptured. Becca
was still in critical condition but there was reason to have much hope.

Our precious Becca was in ICU
for 5 days. Filled with gratitude to God and the doctors we brought
Becca home weak, tired and on oxygen.

In the next 4 months Becca,
gained back all her strength. As always she loves being active, especially
going to preschool, riding bikes and jumping on the trampoline. She
must take her regular heart medicine twice a day, and at night when she
goes to bed, she needs oxygen.

During Becca's last heart catheterization,
we couldn't sleep and wrote this journal entry instead:

It is 3:30 in the morning.
Becca’s cath lasted only 3 hours and she was able to come home last night.
Very simply put, nothing that has been done has enabled her very deformed
pulmonary arteries to grow. Even the stents and massive balloonings
done last October did not lower her high pressures. The pediatric
cardiologists felt that there were only 2 places left to try to do something
and the risks to Becca greatly outweighed the benefits. Her only
option for a future will be a heart/lung transplant. We have been
told that at this time the success rate for children with heart/lung transplants
is extremely poor. “ The Heart of a Child” is really the Heart of
a Family and right now our hearts are breaking.

On the way home from the hospital
yesterday Becca told us how lucky she thought she was. When we asked
her why, she said it was because she got to go home and there were so many
children who had to stay in the hospital. We too feel blessed to
have brought her home, from the second she was placed in our arms when
she was 1 month old. We will always believe we are the luckiest,
most blessed people in the world to have this most precious treasure in
our lives.

Becca loves to dance.
It is our hope that today she will feel like dancing. When she dances
our hearts dance too and maybe that will help dry our tears and enable
us to start celebrating every day the way it should be celebrated, with
faith, love, hope, joy and courage. Every second, every minute, every hour
of every day we thank God for the gift of this precious child in our lives.